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Publications

Preprints

Topological defect engineering enables size and shape control in self-assembly
Lara Koehler, Markus Eder, Christoph Karfusehr, Vincent Ouazan-Reboul, Pierre Ronceray, Friedrich C. Simmel, Martin Lenz
arXiv:2504.13073 (2025)
Continuous self-repair protects vimentin intermediate filaments from fragmentation
Quang D. Tran, Martin Lenz, Hugo Wioland, Antoine Jegou, Guillaume Romet-Lemonne, Cécile Leduc
bioRxiv 2024.09.02.610785 (2024)
Stress Isotropization in Weakly Jammed Granular Packings
Félix Benoist, Mehdi Bouzid, Martin Lenz
arXiv:2409.18579 (2024)
Transient contacts between filaments impart its elasticity to branched actin
Mehdi Bouzid, Cesar Valencia Gallardo, Magdalena Kopec, Lara Koehler, Giuseppe Foffi, Olivia du Roure, Julien Heuvingh, Martin Lenz
arXiv:2409.00549 (2024)
Achieving specific yet transient bonds between anisotropic colloids
Muraleedharapai Mayarani, Martin Lenz, Olivia du Roure, Julien Heuvingh
arXiv:2408.11569 (2024)

Articles

Atomic Force Microscopy reveals differences in mechanical properties linked to cortical structure in mouse and human oocytes
Rose Bulteau, Lucie Barbier, Guillaume Lamour, Yassir Lemseffer, Marie-Helene Verlhac, Nicolas Tessandier, Elsa Labrune, Martin Lenz, Marie-Emilie Terret, Clement Campillo
Small 2500221 (2025)
Collective Deformation Modes Promote Fibrous Self-Assembly in Deformable Particles
Hugo Le Roy, M. Mert Terzi, Martin Lenz
Phys. Rev. X. 15 011022 (2024)
How do particles with complex interactions self-assemble?
Lara Koehler, Pierre Ronceray, Martin Lenz
Phys. Rev. X 14 041061 (2024)
Valence can control the non-exponential viscoelastic relaxation of reversible multivalent gels
Hugo Le Roy, Jake Song, David Lundberg, Aleksandr V. Zhukhovitskiy, Jeremiah A. Johnson, Gareth H. McKinley, Niels Holten-Andersen, Martin Lenz
Sci. Adv. 10, eadl5056 (2024)
Runaway Transition in Irreversible Polymer Condensation with Cyclisation
Maria Panoukidou*, Simon Weir*, Valerio Sorichetti, Yair Gutierrez Fosado, Martin Lenz, Davide Michieletto
Phys. Rev. Research 6, 023189 (2024)
Transverse fluctuations control the assembly of semiflexible filaments
Valerio Sorichetti, Martin Lenz
Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 228401 (2023)
Generic Stress Rectification in Nonlinear Elastic Media
Félix Benoist, Guglielmo Saggiorato, Martin Lenz
Soft Matter 19, 2970 (2023)
Fragmentation and Entanglement Limit Vimentin Intermediate Filament Assembly
Quang Duc Tran, Valerio Sorichetti, Gerard Pehau-Arnaudet, Martin Lenz, Cecile Leduc
Phys. Rev. X 13, 011014 (2023)
A biochemical timer phases condensates in and out in cells
Guillaume Charras, Martin Lenz
Nature 609, 469-470 (2022)
Passive coupling of membrane tension and cell volume during active response of cells to osmosis
Chloe Roffay, Guillaume Molinard, Kyoohyun Kim, Victoria Barbarassa, Marta Urbanska, Vincent Mercier, Jose Garcia Calvo, Stefan Matile, Jochen Guck, Martin Lenz, Aurélien Roux
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.118, e2103228118 (2021)
Twist-induced local curvature of filaments in DNA toroids
Luca Barberi, Martin Lenz
Il Nuovo Cimento 44 C, 123 (2021)
Local structure of DNA toroids reveals curvature-dependent intermolecular forces
Luca Barberi, Françoise Livolant, Amélie Leforestier, Martin Lenz
Nucleic Acids Res. 47, 3709 (2021)
Chiral active hexatics: Giant number fluctuations, waves and destruction of order
Ananyo Maitra, Martin Lenz, Raphael Voituriez
Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 238005 (2020)
Anisotropic ESCRT-III architecture governs helical membrane tube formation
Joachim Moser von Filseck, Luca Barberi, Nathaniel Talledge, Isabel Johnson, Adam Frost, Martin Lenz, Aurélien Roux
Nat. Commun. 11, 1516 (2020)
Reversal of contractility as a signature of self-organization in cytoskeletal bundles
Martin Lenz
eLife 9, e51751 (2020); see also U. Paris-Saclay highlight.
Actin modulates shape and mechanics of tubular membranes
A. Allard, M. Bouzid, T. Betz, C. Simon, M. Abou-Ghali, J. Lemière, F. Valentino, J. Manzi, F. Brochard-Wyart, K. Guevorkian, J. Plastino, M. Lenz, C. Campillo, C. Sykes
Sci. Adv. 17, eaaz3050 (2020)
Mapping and modeling the nanomechanics of bare and protein-coated lipid nanotubes
Guillaume Lamour, Antoine Allard, Juan Pelta, Sid Labdi, Martin Lenz, Clément Campillo
Phys. Rev. X 10, 011031 (2020)
Swimmer suspensions on substrates: anomalous stability and long-range order
Ananyo Maitra, Pragya Srivastava, M. Cristina Marchetti, Sriram Ramaswamy, Martin Lenz
Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 028002 (2020)
Actin dynamics drive cell-like membrane deformation
Camille Simon, Remy Kusters, Valentina Caorsi, Antoine Allard, Majdouline Abou-Ghali, John Manzi, Aurelie Di Cicco, Daniel Levy, Martin Lenz, Jean-Francois Joanny, Clement Campillo, Julie Plastino, Pierre Sens, Cecile Sykes
Nat. Phys. 15, 602 (2019)
Spontaneous rotation can stabilise ordered chiral active fluids
Ananyo Maitra, Martin Lenz
Nat. Commun. 10, 920 (2019); see also Labex PALM highlight.
Fiber plucking by molecular motors yields large emergent contractility in stiff biopolymer networks
Pierre Ronceray, Chase Broedersz, Martin Lenz
Soft Matter 15, 1481 (2019)
Stress-dependent amplification of active forces in nonlinear elastic media
Pierre Ronceray, Chase Broedersz, Martin Lenz
Soft Matter 15, 331 (2019)
A nonequilibrium force can stabilize 2D active nematics
Ananyo Maitra, Pragya Srivastava, M. Cristina Marchetti, Juho Lintuvuori, Sriram Ramaswamy, Martin Lenz
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 115, 6934 (2018)
Modulation of formin processivity by profilin and mechanical tension
Mikael Kerleau, Luyan Cao, Emiko Suzuki, Hugo Wioland, Sandy Jouet, Berengere Guichard, Martin Lenz, Guillaume Romet-Lemonne, Antoine Jegou
eLife 7, e34176 (2018)
Cell contraction induces long-ranged stress stiffening in the extracellular matrix
Yu Long Han, Pierre Ronceray, Guoqiang Xu, Andrea Malandrino, Roger Kamm, Martin Lenz, Chase P. Broedersz, Ming Guo
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 115, 4075 (2018)
Adaptive response of actin bundles under mechanical stress
Florian Rückerl*, Martin Lenz*, Timo Betz, John Manzi, Jean-Louis Martiel, Mahassine Safouane, Raja Paterski-Boujemaa, Laurent Blanchoin*, Cécile Sykes* (* equal contributions)
Biophys. J. 113, 1072 (2017)
Geometrical frustration yields fiber formation in self-assembly
Martin Lenz and Thomas A. Witten
Nat. Phys. 13, 1100 (2017) and arXiv:1705.08334; see also our Supplementary Interactive Figure, the associated News and Views article, Greg Grason's commentary in the Journal Club for Condensed Matter Physics and the University of Chicago, CNRS and Université Paris-Sud news reports.
When the cell's skeleton produces forces
Martin Lenz
Med. Sci. (Paris) 33, 121 (2017)
The dynamics of filament assembly define cytoskeletal network morphology
Giulia Foffano, Nicolas Levernier, Martin Lenz
Nat. Commun. 7, 13827 (2016)
Engineering elasticity and relaxation time in metal-coordinate crosslinked hydrogels
Scott Grindy, Martin Lenz, Niels Holten-Andersen
Macromolecules 49, 8306 (2016)
Membrane fission by dynamin: What we know and what we need to know
Bruno Antonny, Christopher Burd, Pietro De Camilli, Elizabeth Chen, Oliver Daumke, Katja Faelber, Marijn Ford, Vadim Frolov, Adam Frost, Jenny E. Hinshaw, Tom Kirchhausen, Michael Kozlov, Martin Lenz, Harry Low, Harvey McMahon, Christien Merrifield, Thomas D. Pollard, Philip Robinson, Aurélien Roux, and Sandra Schmid (in alphabetical order)
EMBO J. 35, 2270 (2016)
Fiber networks amplify active stress
Pierre Ronceray, Chase Broedersz, Martin Lenz
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113, 2827 (2016); see also the Paris-Sud news item
Relaxation of loaded ESCRT-III spiral springs drives membrane deformation
Nicolas Chiaruttini, Lorena Redondo-Morata, Adai Colom, Frédéric Humbert, Martin Lenz*, Simon Scheuring*, Aurélien Roux* (* equal contributions)
Cell 163, 866 (2015); see also Dev. Cell 35, 397 (2015) and CNRS and INSERM news items, as well as the animated illustration of our putative mechanism.
Forcing cells into shape: the mechanics of actomyosin contractility
Michael Murrell, Patrick Oakes, Martin Lenz, Margaret Gardel
Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 16, 486 (2015)
A balance between membrane elasticity and polymerization energy sets the shape of clathrin coats
Mohammed Saleem, Sandrine Morlot, Annika Hohendahl, John Manzi, Martin Lenz*, Aurélien Roux* (* equal contributions)
Nat. Commun. 6, 6249 (2015); see also CNRS news item and popular science articles in "La Recherche" and Science Daily
Connecting local active forces to macroscopic stress in elastic media
Pierre Ronceray, Martin Lenz
Soft Matter 11, 1597 (2015)
Geometrical origins of contractility in disordered actomyosin networks
Martin Lenz
Phys. Rev. X 4, 041002 (2014)
Dynamical tunneling with ultracold atoms in magnetic microtraps
Martin Lenz, Sebastian Wüster, Chris J. Vale, Norman R. Heckenberg, Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop, Cathy A. Holmes, Gerard J. Milburn, Matthew J. Davis
Phys. Rev. A 88, 013635 (2013)
Thick filament length and isoform composition determine properties of self-organized contractile units in actomyosin bundles
Todd Thoresen, Martin Lenz, Margaret L. Gardel
Biophys. J. 104, 655 (2013)
Membrane shape at the edge of the dynamin helix sets location and duration of fission
Sandrine Morlot, Valentina Galli, Markus Klein, Nicolas Chiaruttini, John Manzi, Frédéric Humbert, Luìs Dinís, Martin Lenz, Giovanni Cappello, Aurélien Roux
Cell 151, 619 (2012); see also Curr. Biol. 22, R1047 (2012), and the animated illustration of our putative mechanism.
Assembly kinetics determine the architecture of α-actinin crosslinked F-actin networks
Tobias T. Falzone, Martin Lenz, David R. Kovar, Margaret L. Gardel
Nat. Commun. 3, 861 (2012)
Contractile units in disordered actomyosin bundles arise from F-actin buckling
Martin Lenz, Todd Thoresen, Margaret L. Gardel, Aaron R. Dinner
Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 238107 (2012)
Requirements for contractility in disordered cytoskeletal bundles
Martin Lenz, Margaret L. Gardel, Aaron R. Dinner
New J. Phys. 14, 033037 (2012); featured in the journal's Highlights of 2012
Reconstitution of Contractile Actomyosin Bundles
Todd Thoresen, Martin Lenz, Margaret L. Gardel
Biophys. J. 100, 2698 (2011)
Deformation of dynamin helices damped by membrane friction
Sandrine Morlot*, Martin Lenz*, Jacques Prost, Jean-François Joanny, Aurélien Roux (* equal contributions)
Biophys. J. 99, 3580 (2010)
Polymerization of human MIP-1 chemokines (CCL3 and CCL4) and clearance of MIP-1 by human insulin degrading enzyme
Min Ren*, Qing Guo*, Liang Guo, Martin Lenz, Hua Xu, Aaron R. Dinner, Alexander B. Schilling, Wei-Jen Tang (* equal contributions)
EMBO J. 29, 3952 (2010)
Actin cross-linkers and the shape of stereocilia
Martin Lenz, Jacques Prost, Jean-François Joanny
Biophys. J. 99, 2423 (2010)
A Reaction-Diffusion Model of the Cadherin-Catenin System: A Possible Mechanism for Contact Inhibition and Implications for Tumorigenesis
Markus Basan, Timon Idema, Martin Lenz, Jean-François Joanny, Thomas Risler
Biophys. J. 98, 2770 (2010)
Membrane Curvature Controls Dynamin Polymerization
Aurélien Roux, Gerbrand Koster, Martin Lenz, Benoît Sorre, Jean-Baptiste Manneville, Pierre Nassoy, Patricia Bassereau
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107, 4141 (2010); see also Phys. Today 63, 18 (2010)
Mechanical requirements for membrane fission: Common facts from various examples
Martin Lenz, Sandrine Morlot, Aurélien Roux
FEBS Lett. 583, 3839 (2009)
ATP-Dependent Nonequilibrium Mechanics of Red Blood Cells
Timo Betz, Martin Lenz, Jean-François Joanny, Cécile Sykes
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106, 15320 (2009)
Membrane Buckling Induced by Curved Filaments
Martin Lenz, Daniel J. G. Crow, Jean-François Joanny
Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 038101 (2009)
Mechanochemical Action of the Dynamin Protein
Martin Lenz, Jacques Prost, Jean-François Joanny
Phys. Rev. E 78, 011911 (2008)

Theses

Principles of self-assembly for particles with simple geometries and complex interactions
Lara Koehler, Ph.D. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
Université Paris-Saclay (2023)
Complex Materials: Frustrated Self-Assembly and Nonlinear Elasticity
Félix Benoist, Ph.D. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
Université Paris-Saclay (2022)
Elasticity of self assembling bio-materials
Hugo Le Roy, Ph.D. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
Université Paris-Saclay (2021)
Effect of residual stress on the elasticity of fiber networks
Samuel Cazayus-Claverie, Ph.D. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
Université Paris-Saclay (2019)
Inferring forces from geometry in biology
Luca Barberi, Ph.D. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
Université Paris-Saclay (2019)
Active contraction in biological fiber networks
Pierre Ronceray, Ph.D. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
Université Paris-Saclay (2016)
On the microstructure of active cellular processes
Martin Lenz, habilitation thesis
Université Paris-Sud (2015)
Shaping Tubes in Cells
Martin Lenz, Ph.D. thesis (Advisors: Jean-François Joanny, Jacques Prost)
Université Pierre et Marie Curie (2009)

Internship reports (partial list)

Frustrated Self Assembly with Multiple Particle Types
Pietro Caracciolo di Torella, M.S. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
Sorbonne Université (2024)
Geometrically Frustrated Self-Assembly on a Husimi Tree
Lukas Kalvoda, M.S. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
LMU Munich (2024)
A study of the self-assembly of anisotropic particles mimicking the pathological agregation of proteins
Martin Flament, M.S. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
École normale supérieure (2023)
Numerical modelling of frustrated fibrous self assembly of Ure2p prion
Clara Delahousse, M.S. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
ENS Paris-Saclay (2023)
One-dimensional modeling of the self-assembly of complex elastic particles
Pawat Akarapipattana, M.S. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
Université Paris Cité (2023)
Statistical identification of protein aggregates in protein crystallography datasets
Martin Garic, M.S. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
Université Paris Saclay (2022)
Characterizing the dimension of protein aggregates through simulated X-ray scattering data
Marianne Billoir, M.S. thesis (Advisor: Martin Lenz)
Université Paris Saclay (2021)